Looking beyond the surface to the essence – What is the future of coal chemical industry?

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This post was last edited by GSP on 2012-5-7 at 16:32. It is reported that recently, the coal chemical project in the Yuheng Industrial Park of Shaanxi Yanchang Petroleum was halted by local authorities due to environmental concerns. Looking beyond the surface, what will be the future of coal chemistry? http://*an.qq.com/a/20120502/000001.htm The environmental protection authorities in Yulin have halted Yanchang Petroleum’s 4 billion yuan coal chemical project. May 2, 2012, 07:11 – Xi’an Evening News Weibo. The relevant industrial park does not have a sewage treatment system, so the enterprise has no legal means for discharging its production and domestic wastewater. Report from Yulin (Reporter: Yang Yongcun): The first-phase methanol and acetic acid production project of Shaanxi Yanchang Petroleum Yulin Coal Chemical Co., Ltd., which began operations in August last year, was urgently shut down by the environmental protection authorities after 8 months of operation. The reason for this shutdown was that the environmental protection systems in the industrial park were not built and put into use simultaneously with the enterprise, leaving no legal way for the company to discharge its production and domestic wastewater. There is a reason for this: the sewage treatment facilities cannot be connected to the industrial park. It is understood that several months earlier, the Yulin coal chemical project operated by Shaanxi Yanchang Petroleum had been reported by the public for illegal discharge of pollutants; the provincial environmental protection department took action to address the issue, and the local environmental protection authorities issued orders for corrective actions and imposed fines. A recent notice dated April 9 regarding the handling of the illegal wastewater discharge by Yulin Coal Chemical Co., Ltd. indicated that since the wastewater treatment plant and garbage disposal facility in the industrial park had not been built, there was no place to dispose of the treated industrial wastewater and domestic sewage generated by the company. As a result, the provincial and municipal environmental protection authorities approved trial production not yet; the Yulin Environmental Protection Bureau required that the company apply to resume operations only after the wastewater disposal facilities in the park were completed. A responsible official from Shaanxi Yanchang Petroleum Yulin Coal Chemical Co., Ltd. said in a previous interview with reporters that when the coal chemical company set up operations in the park, it entered into an agreement with the local authorities stating that the park’s sewage treatment facilities had to be built simultaneously with the company’s facilities; however, such facilities have not yet been constructed. The company also submitted several reports on this matter to the local authorities and the park management committee before and after the project’s trial operation. The official said that the coal chemical company has invested over 100 million yuan in sewage treatment; its equipment and treatment processes are at the leading level in China. It’s a pity that these systems cannot be integrated with the park’s sewage disposal infrastructure. The Provincial Environmental Protection Department also stated clearly in its supervision letter that the environmental protection facilities in the Chemical Industry Zone South of Yuheng Industrial Area are severely underdeveloped; centralized sewage treatment systems and solid waste treatment facilities have not been built, and there are no corresponding pipeline networks connecting these facilities to the enterprises, as a result of which the wastewater generated by these enterprises is discharged arbitrarily outside the treatment plants. The Chemical Industry South Area was required to complete the construction of centralized sewage treatment facilities by December 31, 2011. A person familiar with the situation at Shaanxi Yanchang Petroleum Yulin Coal Chemical Co., Ltd. said yesterday that the wastewater treatment facilities in the Yuheng Industrial Zone are said to have started construction only after the May Day holiday; as a result, there is no timeline yet for the coal chemical company to resume operations. “The company suspended all production from April 28th to May 1st; a one-month shutdown resulted in losses of nearly 10 million yuan, and the nearly 1,000 employees had to remain at their posts to carry out various corrective actions. ”Actions are taken based on evidence, and environmental standards are not relaxed just because of a company’s status as a major taxpayer. Officials from the Yulin Environmental Protection Bureau said that although the Yulin Coal Chemical Project of Yanchang Petroleum is a major taxpayer in the area, paying over 100 million yuan in taxes each year, environmental issues cannot be used as a bargaining chip in such situations. This shutdown and rectification of the enterprise is also a law enforcement action carried out under the direct intervention of the municipal party committee and municipal authorities after weighing the pros and cons. The Yulin Coal Chemical Project of Shaanxi Yanchang Petroleum is located in the Yuheng Industrial Zone of the Yulin High-Tech Industrial Park. The first phase of this project involves an annual production capacity of 200,000 tons of methanol and 200,000 tons of acetic acid, along with a supporting heating system with a capacity of 2×240 tons per hour. The project was approved by the Provincial Development and Reform Commission, while its environmental impact assessment was handled by the Provincial Environmental Protection Department. Construction began in April 2008, and trial production started in August 2011; the total investment in this project exceeds 4 billion yuan.